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Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

starlinkmap.org

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Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#111

Post by MRtecno98 »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #90
hnbad wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not miniscule enough to not interfere with astronomy due to the exposure times and light sensitivity involved. But yes, they're not big enough to cause a "space junk preventing space travel" kind of scenario.

I think the 2nd statement of yours is a false dilemma: Starlink is increasing risks in space travel - a space rocket now needs (even more - otherwise it would be a false dilemma as well) maneuverability to stick to the planned path or avoid a satellite if the path changed, I don't think it's easy considering how rockets are propelled by continuous explosions, where an engine becoming disabled is somewhat normal… And…

Starlink satellites naturally decay into unstable orbits after 5 years without boost-backs

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#112

Post by MRtecno98 »

londons_explore wrote: post #29
modeless wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bad take. There are plenty of regulatory bodies that control what SpaceX is allowed to do. The satellites are not visible to the eye in their operational orbits and are incredibly tiny compared to the vastness of space. Their depiction here is thousands of times larger than actual size.

There are 7.8 billion people on earth. 7.5 billion of them had no say at all, and 0.33 billion of them had a tiny say via elected representatives who wrote the laws before starlink was even envisioned. I'm pretty sure if a global vote was held on the question of "Would you like to have 10,000 satellites launched so you have the option of paying a US company for broadband anywhere in the world?", the vote outcome woul…

> I'm pretty sure the vote would be a firm "No"

So... you're critizing having no elections by assuming the outcome of one based purely on personal intuition? I think you're making the same mistake you seem to criticize.

Also just think about the impracticality of doing something like that and at the same time the fact that of that 7.5B, 90% probably wouldn't care. How many complaints about starlink have you received from, idk, China or Zimbawe or rural Russia?

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#114

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #106
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> once all goes to hell and you have a chain reaction of destroyed satellites destroying other satellites - each next satellite moves the scenario towards a positive feedback loop There is no orbital solution in which this happens to any meaningful extent. Even worst-case scenarios of massive anti-satellite activity create localised messes that clear in a few months.

From Wikipedia[1]: One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

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Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#115

Post by thunfischtoast »

lom wrote: post #58

> The Starlink constellation could serve up to 188,160 MB/sec to Earth. Does that feel very slow to anyone else?

The numbers I find a bit confusing here.

"The Starlink constellation could serve up to 188.160 MB/sec to Earth."

So is that dot a decimal point? I suppose so, because it's used like that in the following numbers

"9,373,421.84 gigabytes total bandwidth to Earth so far today"

But isnt the 188 MB/sec the bandwith and the 9 million gigabytes the transferred amount of data? How can that amount go up way faster than 188 MB / sec?

I'm confused.

The maps nice though.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#116

Post by hnbad »

Etherlord87 wrote: post #106
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> once all goes to hell and you have a chain reaction of destroyed satellites destroying other satellites - each next satellite moves the scenario towards a positive feedback loop There is no orbital solution in which this happens to any meaningful extent. Even worst-case scenarios of massive anti-satellite activity create localised messes that clear in a few months.

From Wikipedia[1]: One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

From the same article:

> However, even a catastrophic Kessler scenario at LEO would pose minimal risk for launches continuing past LEO, or satellites travelling at medium Earth orbit (MEO) or geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The catastrophic scenarios predict an increase in the number of collisions per year, as opposed to a physically impassable barrier to space exploration that occurs in higher orbits.

There's also a statement by SpaceX about why Starlink won't cause this but that's not worth the paper it's printed on given that SpaceX would of course say that.

It does sound like the Kessler syndrome risk is higher for heavier, higher orbit satellites so a more likely issue would be a higher orbit satellite starting a debris cascade that could take out Starlink (and cause Kessler syndrome) rather than Starlink satellites going haywire and causing the cascade themselves.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#117

Post by oceanplexian »

ryukoposting wrote: post #99

Maps like these are really useful for folks developing satcom firmware. I use https://iridiumwhere.com at least a couple times a week to help me test code. This one is particularly interesting for the sheer density of it - that's a TON of satellites. On a related note, anyone who hasn't done so should get to their country's lowest light-pollution area and do some star gazing (for Americans, I suggest Badlands Nationa…

I live in a dark skies area in the Southwest USA. I frequently see the trains as they are inserted into orbit, but your chance of seeing an individual Starlink satellite is zero. It's like trying to see a single object the size of a picnic table, in the dark, 400km away, going 27,000km/hr.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#118

Post by elif »

Klaster_1 wrote: post #9

Wow, I knew Starlink had an enormous constellation, but visualizing it like that really empathizes the scope. Would be cool if one day you could get your connectivity needs handled by a single company cheaply, almost anywhere in the world, without bothering about new contracts, moving cities or country borders.

Google Fi is uncapped, global, free roaming. Probably some countries don't work but so far ~30/30 for me.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#119

Post by hnbad »

hnbad wrote: post #51
squarefoot wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A single company and cheaply are usually mutually exclusive as competition is what keeps prices down.

They're not mutually exclusive as far as cost goes - quite the opposite (hence all the talk about "synergy" and "vertical integration" in enterprise spaces) - but you're right about consumer prices. I think what's keeping the consumer prices for Starlink down is that for the vast majority of its coverage it does have competition. Much like how it's in Tesla's best interests for the US not to invest in high-speed rail…

To be clear: I'm arguing monopolies can increase efficiency so they can cause costs to go down but they also eliminate the motive to pass those cost savings on to customers so they usually cause prices to go up. This is well-known enough to be a key part of the strategy of "disruptive" companies that grow by pricing out the competition at a loss and then ramp up prices later (e.g. Amazon, Uber, etc).

The US is notorious for its lack of competition in local broadband providers but this is less true for other countries. So while Starlink may disrupt local monopolies of higher prices and worse quality in some places, especially in the US, in the long term it's rational to expect them to aim to replace the monopoly, not to continue having to compete.

Re: Real-time map of every Starlink satellite in orbit

#120

Post by doctoboggan »

oceanplexian wrote: post #117
ryukoposting wrote: post #99

Maps like these are really useful for folks developing satcom firmware. I use https://iridiumwhere.com at least a couple times a week to help me test code. This one is particularly interesting for the sheer density of it - that's a TON of satellites. On a related note, anyone who hasn't done so should get to their country's lowest light-pollution area and do some star gazing (for Americans, I suggest Badlands Nationa…

I live in a dark skies area in the Southwest USA. I frequently see the trains as they are inserted into orbit, but your chance of seeing an individual Starlink satellite is zero. It's like trying to see a single object the size of a picnic table, in the dark, 400km away, going 27,000km/hr.

This is totally incorrect, what do you think you are seeing in the trains? You can easily see each individual satellite. Just after sunset you can see many individual satellites, not just starlink.
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